Wednesday, July 6, 2011

In search of Hugh Hefner's Palatial Mansion...

In the ongoing saga of Szuchie VS. the Unfound Caches of Letchworth State Park, I like to think I'm kicking ass and taking names.  And in some instances contact information, because we all know how important networking is.

The unfound Letchworth cache that presented the most cerebral challenge for me was Upon A Bust of Pallas by Wolf Creek.  This puzzleriffic bugger clocks in at a four-star (out of five) difficulty.  Puzzle caches typically require the would-be seeker to solve a riddle, cipher or some other puzzle in order to get the information needed to determine the correct cache coordinates.  This cache required you to find the meaning of the numbers on the cache page, which would then lead you to a small container that would contain coordinates to the final.

My dear readers...if you know me...you know I'm pretty honest when it comes to puzzle caches.  I'm just downright bad at them.  And it's not so much that I'm a complete moron (I mean I'm close...haha), but it's mostly that I don't have the patience to sit in front of the confounded computer trying to decipher something when I should just be able to load some coords into my GPS and instantly be able to jump into the woods and go for a hike. 

I decided though that since this particular cache was in Letchworth, I wouldn't give up that easily.  Interestingly enough, it didn't take too long for me to figure out what I was supposed to do.  Doing it successfully was a whole 'nother matter...but I was half way there right?!?  So I spent a couple hours screwing around until I had coords that sounded ballpark.  I would never consider them right, because c'mon...they were my coords.  Haha.

I was rather proud of myself.  At least I thought I was proud of myself.  I wouldn't know for sure unless I went into the wilds of Letchworth to verify it for myself.  After returning to work today, a little peace, quiet and solitude was definitely in order, so off to Letchworth I moseyed.

The clue on the cache page was "Trail 13."  Guess who's possible first leg coords were under 500 feet from this spot:


Damn I may or may not be good!  At this point I was feeling pretty optimistic, so I grabbed my gear and hit the trail at a pretty fast stride hoping to verify my ghetto-deciphering.  Before I hit my zero though, I was quickly impressed by this trail.  It was my first time on it, so I had to take plenty of notes for future return visits.



There was a ton of maple, oak and ash going on along this trail, and inspecting some of the bigguns was really enjoyable.  Soon I was very close to my calculated coordinates.  I took a deep breath and headed off trail towards my zero.  Truth be told I was a little nervous.  If I screwed up, I'd probably be forced to scour the entire woods in the hopes of accidentally discovering the first leg.  It's been done, but certainly takes a lot of time.  Haha. 

My GPS read eight feet when I spotted a great hiding spot.

And there it was.

For being a simpleton, I did pretty good!  I snagged the cache and popped it open.  There were the coordinates for the final - I had done it.  Sure sure...it wasn't finishing the Appalachian Trail or anything, but it was a win.  And I'll take a win any day of the week!  Smiling, I punched in the final cache coords, and rehid the container back where I had found it.  It was time to celebrate...and when you're miles away from the nearest Szuchie Palmer, you party the only way you know how.  Find a tree, take a leak, adjust everything that needs adjustin' and then go about taking pictures of the scenery.



I was excited to get my hands on the ammo can awaiting me at the end of this cache, so down the trail I trotted.  This particular portion of the trail is pretty short.  It follows a few hundred feet along side the road in Letchworth - but if it wasn't for the cars making noise as they passed, you'd probably never realize it.  In total, this section probably measures under a half mile.  Their is a offshoot on the trail, that takes you downhill towards the Genesee River that adds another three-quarters of a mile to this trail (so it's not a loop per se, just a big goofy looking "T"). 

I arrived at the final cache site, and quickly had the box in my mitts.  I was one happy camper.  Since the trip went faster than I expected, I hemmed and hawed a little about checking out the spur trail that headed down towards the river.  Oddly enough, I heard Cayuga in my head urging me on (or at least the parts I could understand...it's hard to understand him when he's cramming clams and beer into his face).  There was going to be a heck of an uphill climb on the return trip, but I would have felt guilty not exploring further...so down down down the hill I went.  It was pretty overgrown, and in spots you could tell it doesn't get a ton of travel.  Also the rain we got earlier this Spring has washed away a few sections and exposed the shale rock underneath.  It's pretty cool actually. 

One of the gullys that saw a lot of action this Spring!
After a short jaunt, I arrived at the road Adventure Calls Outfitters use to take out the folks rafting down the Genesee.  I was glad I had continued on to see the blue skies hovering over the Genesee River valley.


I soaked this up for a little while, feeling complete peace and solitude.  It was a very good feeling for me - and I felt like I charged my batteries a bit (as corny as that all sounds).  I did an about face and proceeded back up the hill.  It wasn't too bad, and I did work up a good sweat before completing the upper loop and arriving at the other access point for Trail 13.  While taking a breather, I had to capture it for posterity!


Feeling an exuberant sense of joy and mirth about the entirety of my expedition this afternoon - I hiked the road back to the Suvie - a smile adorned across my face.

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